Man charged with assault on 4-month-old son

WEST CHESTER – A Coatesville man is awaiting trial on charges that he assaulted his 4-month-old son last year in a possible “shaken baby syndrome” case.

Barry Nelson Hill Jr., 19, is charged with aggravated assault, simple assault, endangering the welfare of children, and related charges as a parent or guardian, stemming from injuries that his infant son suffered in February 2012.

The child was taken to Children’s Hospital of Philadelphia after reports that he had suffered a heart attack. Once there, a doctor said the child had a skull fracture, brain injuries, and liver lacerations. There also appeared to be signs of fractured ribs that had begun to heal, the doctor said.

Hill was arrested by Coatesville police on Jan. 16. He waived his preliminary hearing before District Magisterial Judge Grover Koons on Jan. 29, and Common Pleas Court Senior Judge Thomas Gavin set bail for him at $50,000 on Monday. He posted a bond and was released, according to court records.

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Deputy District Attorney Elizabeth B. Pitts, who is prosecuting the case, declined comment Thursday. Assistant Public Defender James McMullen, who represents Hill, could not be reached for comment.

According to a criminal complaint filed in the case by Coatesville Detective Shawn Dowds, city police were called to a house in the 200 block of West Chestnut Street around 1 a.m. on Feb. 18, 2012, for the report of a 4-month-old baby that was in cardiac arrest. Hill was present at the scene, while the child’s mother, was not.

Hill was interviewed that night and several days later by Coatesville police, and gave conflicting stories about what had happened, police said.

Initially, Hill told then-Detective Gerald Pawling on the night of the incident that he did not do anything to the baby, but that he remembered an alarm clock falling on the child two days prior. Hill told Pawling he had been drinking “several beers” that evening.

On Feb. 23, in another interview, Hill said he had shaken the baby to try to wake him up that night and that while he had the child in his arms a bedroom door came off its hinges and “might have hit the baby.” He also said that when he put the child on a bed to do CPR, the baby’s head might have struck a drill that was lying on the bed.

In an interview the same day, Dowds and Pawling interviewed the child’s mother, Rachel Davis, who told them she had gone out with friends that night and left the couple’s two children, the 4-month-old and a 19-month-old, in Hill’s care. She said the baby appeared to be fine when she left, although Hill had apparently told her about the alarm clock incident.

Another person living at the house, Matthew Hill, told police that he saw the baby before going to sleep and he appeared fine. He said that at some point during the night, he awoke to the sound of banging coming from the bedroom where Hill and the child were. Shortly thereafter, Barry Hill ran into the room and told Matthew Hill to call 911, according to the police account.

Dr. Hiu-fai Fong, the CHOP physician who treated the baby, said he had a skull fracture, acute bilateral subdural hematomas, cerebella contusions, bruising of the torso, and liver lacerations. He also was able to identify rib fractures. The injuries were characteristic of non-accidental trauma inflicted on the baby, Fong said.

Hill was also charged with a domestic disturbance involving Davis outside their home several months after the child’s injuries occurred. In that incident, police were called to the West Chestnut Street residence about 11:48 p.m. June 12 and Davis told them that Hill punched her in the face and stomach several times. She was 7˝ months pregnant at the time.